Mental Health Media, Mind, and the Samaritans are among the charities backing a five-year programme launched by the National Institute for Mental Health in England last week to tackle the prejudice of mental health.
The Shift campaign aims to achieve a change in public perceptions of people with mental health issues. It began with 10,000 posters to GPs and 60,000 postcards sent to young people, companies and the media, stating: "We all have a mental health problem."
The charities claim that more than half of all employers are reluctant to hire someone with a history of mental ill health.
WWAV Rapp Collins created the materials, which contend that the 'real' mental health problem is that society discriminates against people with mental health problems.